The regulations were updated in July 2023, following the entry into force of the LGCA in 2022, on television accessibility and platforms. This has led to stricter requirements when producing and supplying content in the areas described above.
Atresmedia stepped up its investment and dedicated more in the way of technical and human resources to meet the new legal requirements. It succeeded in adding three more hours of content with audio description and sign language during prime time for each of the Group’s channels. This work was coordinated with the scheduling department, with a screening process carried out to select those programmes that meet the relevant audience requirements and, at the same time, meet programme profitability thresholds.
Atresmedia Group’s Regulatory Board and Legal Department also work together to respond to weekly requests received from the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) and its supplier Gabinete de Estudios de la Comunicación Audiovisual (GECA). The reports analyse the new quantitative requirements of the law, as well as the quality of accessible services, both on television and on other platforms.
The group relies on internal tools to monitor daily and weekly compliance with legal accessibility obligations, far exceeding the ratios set out in the 2022 LGCA
Not only does Atresmedia exceed the ratios established by the LGCA, it also meets AENOR standards on the quality of its subtitling and audio description.
Accessibility of television content
The availability of live subtitled programming during 2023 remained at 100% in the commercial slot. The Group has pledged to continue making all its current affairs programmes accessible, regardless of time slot, in order to bring live news to all hearing-impaired people.
As for content with sign language, following the enactment of the latest version of the LGCA, the new HbbTV sign language project was launched in July in close coordination with engineering and Atresmedia Tech. The project is undergoing continuous improvement in a bid to ensure the utmost quality and compliance with the law (minimum of five hours of content with sign language to be broadcast each week).
Broadcasting with automatic speech recognition (ASR) officially began in 2023, with key improvements made to make the sign language system in HBBTV work more efficiently
For yet another year, Atresmedia attended the AMADIS congress organised by the Royal Board on Disability and CESYA, with the attendance of official bodies and associations, together with other television operators, platforms and companies providing audiovisual and communication services. The new law was examined and debated over the course of the event in order to understand its main challenges and the current situation. New technical solutions for accessible television broadcasting have also been presented.
In its commitment to accessibility, Atresmedia subtitled 92.5% of its television content in 2023; a total of 40,568.3 hours; He signed 1,970.8 hours of audio and described a total of 2,858.1.
Meanwhile, atresplayer has more than 22,800 hours of subtitled content as part of its international and national catalogue, available in Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Galician and Valencian.
